Kael's breath misted in the cold air of dawn as he stood atop a jagged cliff, the charred valley beneath him still pulsing with residual energy from the Crucible. The wind screamed through the mountains like a warning, but he didn't flinch.
He wasn't the same as he was yesterday.
None of them were.
Behind him, the Ashen Creed gathered, changed and quiet. Liora's runes glowed even without magic. Tarin's blade now whispered when unsheathed. Even Myrin, who had barely survived the Crucible, now held a strange aura of gravitational force around her, like the world bent slightly when she moved.
And Kael?
Kael had become something else entirely.
"Tell me," he said without turning around. "What's our next step?"
Tarin was first to answer. "We head west. Toward the Dead Skies. That's where the next Nexus should be."
Myrin crossed her arms. "That place is crawling with Dominion Watchers. We go there, we won't stay hidden long."
Kael turned. "We're not hiding anymore."
Silence.
Liora stepped forward. "Then we'll need more power. More allies. I felt it last night. We're still ants compared to what's coming."
Kael nodded.
"Then we ascend further. No more running. No more surviving. Now, we dominate."
The trek westward was not gentle.
The terrain twisted — spires of obsidian knifing up from the earth like claws. The skies dimmed, becoming a permanent overcast of violet clouds. Lightning with no thunder flickered on the horizon. And with each step, the Ascension Code shifted subtly in Kael's mind — as if recalibrating to a world that was waking up with hunger.
[Warning: You are now entering a Tier-3 Corrupted Zone.]
[System Anomaly Detected – Entities may not follow established rules.]
Kael scowled at the message.
"I've never seen that before," he said aloud.
Tarin checked his blade, which was now faintly vibrating.
Liora's hand glowed softly, forming a warding circle. "Something's watching."
The world changed.
From the shattered cliffs rose beings that weren't alive — not in any traditional sense. They wore no faces, only halos of smoke. Their limbs stretched too long, and their eyes — when visible — were endless black voids. They didn't move so much as bend reality when they stepped forward.
[Entity Detected: Nullborn Wraith – Origin Unrecorded – Immune to Basic Attacks]
Kael didn't hesitate. "Formation. Now!"
The Ashen Creed moved. Tarin flanked right, Liora set a seal beneath their feet, and Myrin launched herself skyward, her spear spinning with gravitational force.
The Wraiths shrieked in a soundless scream, charging.
Kael activated his new ability.
[Astral Severance – Activated]
He dashed forward, blade cutting not just through flesh, but through connection. One of the Wraiths staggered, its form stuttering — as if it had been unplugged from whatever source animated it.
Kael didn't stop.
Three slashes. One rupture. The Wraith imploded, vanishing into ash.
Tarin met another with brute force, cutting through its limbs, but they reformed — until Kael arrived and severed its core.
"You're the key," Tarin grunted. "They're bound to something deeper. Your blade cuts it."
"I know," Kael said. "But the cost is stacking."
Indeed, each use of Astral Severance left a sharp echo of pain in Kael's arms — not physical, but deeper. As though his soul was splintering bit by bit.
But he kept going.
The battle ended with the last Wraith dispersing in smoke. The group fell into silence.
Liora approached him. "That power… it's dangerous. You're not just cutting them — you're cutting reality's hold on them."
Kael didn't answer. He was staring at his hands.
The skin along his forearms was beginning to crack — glowing from within.
[Warning: Astral Overuse Detected. Cooldown Required.]
He clenched his fists. "Noted."
By nightfall, they found the ruins.
What had once been a spire — maybe a castle, or a temple — now lay broken beneath a crater. Ancient glyphs still glowed faintly along the stones, humming when Kael approached.
"This was a Nexus," Liora confirmed. "Maybe one of the original ones."
Tarin crouched by a skeletal body still clad in rusted armor. "Whoever guarded it didn't survive the last purge."
Kael touched the glyph.
[Optional Event Triggered: Memory Well Reached.]
[Do you wish to interface with Lost Echoes? Y/N]
He nodded.
The world vanished.
He stood now in memory — a dream of the past.
Before him, the Nexus stood whole, glowing blue, guarded by a small army. A woman stood at its heart, tall, robed in silver fire, wielding a sword made of sunfire.
She turned.
And looked directly at Kael.
"You're not supposed to be here yet."
Kael's breath caught.
"You… see me?"
She nodded.
"This memory is fractured. But I am not. I left this echo for the one who would awaken the Spectral Path."
Kael stepped forward. "Who are you?"
She smiled.
"I am your predecessor."
The vision collapsed.
Kael gasped, stumbling back. The others rushed to him, but he held up a hand.
"She was real," he said. "She's been through the Code before. She left that memory — for me."
Myrin frowned. "Then what happened to her?"
Kael looked at the crumbled ruins.
"She failed."
[Nexus Data Absorbed.]
[New System Feature: Memory Wells Unlocked.]
[Ability Learned: Spectral Recall – View combat data from lost predecessors.]
Kael stood, slowly.
"There are others. Fragments. We need to find them. Learn what they learned — and do what they couldn't."
Liora's voice was soft. "And if we can't?"
Kael's eyes burned again.
"Then we end like them — ashes beneath someone else's feet."